Volt ampere hour meter



Jul 21, 1936. ABBOTT ET AL 2,048,534

VOLT AMPERE HOUR METER Filed Oct. 15, 1935 Fig.3.

FLUX LlNKAGES (33) RANG or VOLTAGES T0 at covemzn.

FLUX 32 TING A $22.

DIRECT CURRENT I'l Inventors: Thomas A. Abbott.

Allen T.Si ks.

' Then" Attorney.

Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VOLT AMI'EBE HOUR METER York Application October 15, 1835, Serial No. 5.023

7 Claims. (Cl. 171-84) Our invention relates to electricmaeasuring devices and concerns particularly integrating meters and devices for measuring apparent power or volt amperes in alternating-current circuits.

It is an object of our invention to provide a rugged reliable volt-ampere hour meter of relatively simple construction without moving parts other than the usual induction disc rotor and the associated mechanism driven by the rotor.

Another object of our invention it to provide an ampere-hour meter of improved construction.

It is also an object of our invention to provide a device responsive to the square root of a current or for producing a current varying as the square root of another current.

Still another object is to provide an improved induction disc damping element producing a restraining torque varying inversely with voltage.

Other and further objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds;

In accordance with our invention in its preferred form, we utilize an integrating meter mechanism similar in construction to that used in watt-hour meters, but we utilize both current and potential coils as current coils and we provide a damping arrangement for producing a restraining torque varying inversely with voltage. Furthermore. we connect the current coils to the circuit to be measured through a current transformer having. a secondary current arying as the square root or the primary current. i. e.. having a ratio varying inversely as the square root of the current.

The invention will be understood more readily from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing. and those features of the invention which are believed to be novel and patentable will be pointed out in the claims appended hereto. In the drawing, Fig. 1 represents schematically the currentconducting windings and the field structures of one embodiment of our invention; Fig. 2 represents schematically the induction disc rotor and damping arrangement cooperating with the portion of the apparatus shown in Pig. 1: Figs. 3 and 4 are graphs explaining the theory of operation of the apparatus illustrated in Fig.1 and 2; Fig.5 is a schematic diagram of the assembly and Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a modified damping arrangement.

A field structure ll, similar to the field structures employed in watt-limir meters. is provided with a current winding including a pair of sets of cooperating current-conducting coils II and I3. Thecoil II correspondstothepotentialcoil it connected in series with an alternating-curl0 rent circuit, the conditions of which are to be measured. and a secondary winding ll connected to the current coils i2 and IS in parallel. It will be understood. of course, that the current coils i2 and It may also be connected in series 15 if desired. in which case. the resistor It will be connected in parallel with one of the sets of current coils. The transformer I5 is provided with a saturable core ll having a tapering portion i! of such shape as to vary the saturation in a manner which would cause the current ratio of the transformer to decrease inversely as the square root of the current flowing in the winding it.

'Do avoid confusion in the detail drawing, the rotor element cooperating with the hold structure ll isnotshowninFig. lbut itwill beunderstood that a suitable rotor carrying an induction disc 20, shown in Fig. 2, and driving the usual gear train and register mechanism is to be employed. The assembled structure is however indicated schematically in Fig. 5. As in integrating meters 0! the induction type well known in the art. the induction disc III is arranged to rotate in the air gap ll of thefleld structure II.

A damping device. such as a pair of permanently magnetized damping magnets, not shown. of the type usual in integrating meters may be employed. in which case the apparatus becomes an ampere-hour meter. If, on the other hand. a clamping device is provided in which the damping is inversely proportional to the voltage. the meter will register volt-ampere hours or the integral of apparent power with respect to time. In Fig. I is illustrated one embodiment of an arrangement for obtainingdamping which is inversely proportional to the voltage.

A three-legged core I! is provided having a middlelegfloi'greatercrosssectlonthanthe other portions 01' the magnetic circuit and having outside less. and 25, both of approximately thesamecrosssectiombutoflesscrosssection thantheyokeportions Iiiolningthemiddleleg totheouterlegsllandfl. Thecorellls oftransi'ormerironlaminationsorol other suitable magnetic material having a variable permeability. Air gaps 21 and 2lare provided in the legs 23 and 2!, respectively, and the air gap 21 is preferably shorter than the air gap 28, being great enough, however, to accommodate the induction disc 2' forming the rotor or the meter and cooperating with the field structure II. A current-conducting winding is provided, which may consist of a pair of coils 2! and 3| connected in series, one coil linking the magnetic circuit including the outer leg 24 and the other coll linking the magnetic circuit including the outer leg 25. It will be understood that the terminals ll of the windings 28-40 will constitute thepotential terminals of the apparatus and will be connected across an alternating-current circuit in which the conditions are to be measured. However, the damping device of Fig. 2 may also be used. as a device for producing a restrainlns torque, decreasing with increase alternating current flowing through the winding 29-40 and, if desired, an adjustabledirect current may be employed as shown in Fig. 6 to provide an adjustable restraining torque of constant value tor any predetermined value of direct current. It will be understood that our invention.

is not limited to the precise core arrangement oi Fig. 2, and includes, for example, the

core22soastobringthelargercrosssectionleg 2! on the outside as shown in Fig. 5.

It will readily be understood by in the art that the coils i2 and l3 the field structure I I will produce a shifting magnetic field tending to cause rotation of the disc 20 by virtue of the well known induction motor action. To obtain this action, it is essential that the currents in the coils l2 and I! be out of phase. It will be seen that the resistor ll, being of relatively large resistance compared to the rcactance of the coils ll, will serve to maintain a current in the coil l3 substantially in phase with the voltage supplied by the coil II of the transformer II and likewise, owing to the low reluctance of the magnetic circuit of the coil l2, this coil II will have relatively high reactance and the current therein will lag substantially 90 degrees behind the current supplied by the coil H. The torque produced is proportional to the product of the currents in the coils i2 and Il and, thereiore, proportional to the square of the current output of the coil ii.

The construction of the transformer II is such that the secondary current varies as the square that flux leakage increases with increase in saturation, the flux linkages oi the secondary winding ll per ampere of primary current of the transformer liwilldecreaseasthecurrentintheprimary winding increases. This is Just another way or saying that the mutual inductance of the coils i6 and i1 decreases or that the ratio of secondary current to primary current or transformer ratio decreases as the primary current increases. By providing a tapered portion ll havthose skilled ployed and the mechanical and electrical dimensions of the remainder of the transformer.

The coils 29 and 30 of the damping mechanism shown in Fig. 2 are so connected as to produce a magnetic flux circulating around the magnetic circuit formed through the outer legs 24 and 25 and the yoke portions 28. The coils 29 and 30. therefore, not in opposition with respect to the middle leg 23 but act together with respect to the outer legs. The magnetic flux produced by m (the coil 29 will divide and, with relatively low magnetization, a. greater portion thereof will flow in the middle leg 23 than in the outer leg 25. However, as the current through the coils 29 and I0 is increased, increasing the magnetization or the core 22, the increasing saturation of the outer leg will cause the flux produced by the coil 2! to taper off. The flux in the middle leg 23 will also taper off. As the current and the saturation of the outer leg 24 increase still further, the 20 coil 30 will tend to send flux through the middle leg 23 instead oi the outer leg 24 thus opposing the flux produced by the coil 29 and the flux in the middle leg 23 will gradually drop toward zero. Consequently, the flux crossing the air gap 21 25 and acting upon the disc 20 will gradually decrease beyond a certain value of current flowing in the coils 29 and 30 or beyond a certain value of voltage applied to the terminals 3|. This is illustrated in curve 32 of Fig; 3, in which the 30 range, designated by the arrows, correspond to the range of maximum voltages within which the apparatus is arranged to operate. The curve 32 represents the variation in flux crossing the air gap 21 with variations in direct current flowing through the windings 29 and 30. With alternating current, the curve 32 will be traced twice during every cycle of the alternating-current circuit between a positive and a negative crest, the value of which will be dependent upon the applied voltage. Since the flux linkages of the two coils 2! and 30 are additive, the total flux linkages will vary as shown by curve 33.

In Fig. 4 the dotted sine wave 34- represen instantaneous values of alternating voltage applied to the terminals 3| of the damping device of Fig. 2 and the curve 35 represents the instantaneous values of alternating current flowing in the coils 29 and 30. The curve 35 is of the peaked wave shape characteristic of saturable core conduotances with flux linkage curves such as curve II. when the current in the coils 2! and 30 increases to a predetermined maximum value shown in curve 35, it will be apparent that theinstantaneous value of flux crossing the air gap 21 will first increase to a maximum value and then decrease as the magnetizing current follows the curve 35 and approaches its maximum value, for the reason that the instantaneon: values tend to follow the direct current curve on 82 of Fig. 3. If the average voltage applied to terminals II is increased, the height of every point in the curve 35 representing the magnetizing current will also be increased and the instantaneous value of flux crossing the air gal 5 2! represented by the curve 31 will first increase more rapidly than the current represented by curve II until it reaches the same maximum value and will then fall to a lower minimum value owing to a greater saturation eifect. The aver- N age restraining torque acting upon the disc 2| is dependent upon the average value of the flux.

It will be apparent that the curve I! has a lower average value than the curve 38 and likewise, if thevoltageappliedtotheterminalsll isfurther increased, the average of the flux across the air gap 21 will be still further decreased. The average restraining torque acting upon the disc 20 decreases as the average value of the flux decreases. Within the range of voltages to be expected, the restraining torque of the device of Fig. 2may be made to vary inversely as the voltage by a suitable dimensioning of the parts.

Since an induction disc type of motor, constructed like the usual watt-hour meter, has a torque proportional to the product oi the fluxes produced by its two sets of coils and the sine oi the electrical angle between them or to the product oi the currents in these coils and the sine of the angle, the disc 20 will be acted upon by driving torque proportional to the product of the currents in the coils i2 and i3 and the sine oi the electrical angle between these two currents.

Owing to the fact that the impedances of the coils l2 and I! remain substantially constant and both sets of coils are connected to the secondary winding I I of the transformer I 5, the electrical angle between the currents will remain constant and each current will be proportional to the voltage of the winding ll. Thus the driving torque is proportional to the square of the voltage of the, winding H. The latter voltage in turn, as well as the current in the winding IT, is proportional to the square root of the current flowing in the winding l6 and the electric circuit Ill being measured. Accordingly, the driving torque is proportional to the current of the circuit Ill. As previously explained, the restraining torque of the damping device 22 or 22 is inversely proportional to the voltage of the circuit l0.

Since the disc 20 is acted upon by a driving torque proportional to current and a restraining torque inversely proportional to voltage, it will be driven at a speed proportional to the product of current and voltage. Therefore, its speed will represent volt-amperes and the number of revolutions it makes will represent the integrated value, volt-ampere hours. It is evident that the rotation of the disc 20 is independent of the power factor of the circuit to which the apparatus is connected and depends on the current and voltage, so that the value obtained is the apparent power and not the real power.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have described the principle of operation of our invention together with the apparatus which we now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but we desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention may be carried out by other means.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. A volt-ampere hour meter comprising in combination, an ampere squared torque-producing unit having a rotatable element and stationary current .coils acting thereon, a damping unit producing a restraining torque varying inversely with voltage, and a current transformer connected to said current coils and having a ratio varying inversely as the square root of the current.

2. In combination, a meter having a movable element and a current-conducting winding acting upon said movable element with a torque v ying as the square or the current, and a current transformer connected to said current winding and having a ratio varying inversely as the square root of the current.

3. In an integating meter, a rotatable element, means for producing a torque acting on said element proportional to a current, and a damping unit with a current-conducting winding and acting upon said rotatable element with a restraining torque varying inversely as the voltage in its winding.

4. In an integrating meter, an induction type rotatable element, a current-conducting winding acting thereon and a restraining torque unit also acting upon said rotatable element, said restraining torque unit comprising a magnetic core pro viding parallel magnetic flux paths, the flux in one of which cooperates with said rotatable element as damping flux, and means including a current-conducting winding for shifting the flux from said damping flux path to the other path as the current in said latter winding increases.

5. A damping arrangement for a rotating device comprising in combination with an induction rotor, a magnetic core having a middle leg and two outer legs and a current-conducting winding with parts acting in opposition with respect to said center leg but aiding each other with respect to the outer legs, one of said outer legs having an air gap in its magnetic circuit and said middle leg having an air gap therein shorter than said first mentioned air gap and having said induction rotor rotatable therein.

6. A damping arrangement for a rotating device comprising in combination with an induction rotor, magnetic core means comprising variable permeability magnetic material and providing parallel magnetic circuits each containing an air gap, one air gap being shorter than the' other, and a winding with a part linking only one of said magnetic circuits and a part linking both magnetic circuits, said induction rotor being rotatable in said shorter air gap.

'7. A damping arrangement for a rotating device comprising in combination with an induction rotor, magnetic core means comprising variable permeability magnetic material and providing a magnetic circuit including parallel portions with air gaps in each of the parallel portions. and acurrent-conducting magnetizing winding mounted on said core means, said induction rotor being rotatable in one of said air gaps.

THOMAS A. ABBO'I'I. ALIEN T. SINKS.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,048,534. July 21, 1936.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: In the grant, the name of the firstmentioned patentee should have been written and printed as Thomas A. Abbott instead of "Thomas A. Abott"; page 2, second column, line 31, for the word "correspond" read corresponds; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 29th day of September, A. D. 1936.

Henry Van Aredale (seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

